Lynea Martin
My Life as a Martin My parents, Philip Steel Martin and Maria Faith Bonk, met over 30 years ago in Chicago, Illinois where they were both born and raised. Although they lived only a few miles apart their entire lives before meeting, they never knew each other. They finally met on October 28, 1980 when my mom was 20 years old and my dad was 23 years old. My mom and her family were attending the wedding of one of her childhood friends she grew up with across the street. Beth Stewart, now my Aunt Beth Martin, was marrying my dad’s brother, now my Uncle Bill Martin. My dad was the best man in the wedding. The story is that my mom said the best man speech was hysterical and she asked Beth about him. A few moments later, my dad was introducing himself. My introducing himself, I mean he went up to my mother and said, “So I hear you think I’m hot.” For some reason, my mom bought into my dad’s strange humor and they danced the night away to some 80’s music. Just a few days later, my dad took her on their first date to a Chicago Blackhawks hockey game. After dating for four wonderful years, they said their vows on July 1, 1984 in Chicago, Illinois. They made their home in Des Plaines, Illinois and eventually had my older sister Laura Elizabeth on August 24, 1987. My mom says, “Laura cried for the first six months of her life, but we kept her anyways!” Hoping for a quieter child, they got pregnant again and had me on August 28, 1991. Mom:Dad2.jpg|The rents Mom:Dad.png|Engagement Announcement Laur.jpg|My sister holding me the day I was born fam3.jpg|All in jean jackets...including Sneakers fam2.jpg|Matching outfits again! Dad.jpg|Dad back in the day Fam.jpg|Fam + boyfriend So, where is everyone today? I am here at the University of Oklahoma, while everyone I left at home in Chicago is still wondering after four years of college why I chose to go all the way to Norman, Oklahoma. My parents reside in Arlington Heights, a different suburb of Chicago where I have lived since I was 2 years old. My parents are joined by my two dogs, Sneakers Superdawg Martin and Lucky Martin. Sneakers has been with me since kindergarten and is still trotting around at 16 years old, while Lucky is a little younger at 6 years old. After graduating from the University of Iowa in 2005, my sister left the nest and resides in a fun, hip and happening neighborhood called Lincoln Park in Chicago. Both my dad and sister work for the Walgreens Corporation. The Bonk Side My mother, originally Maria Faith Bonk, is 100% Polish. The last name “Bonk” was originally “Bak” back before my great-great-grandfather, Peter Bak, moved from Poland to Chicago in 1891 with his second wife, my great-great-grandmother, Maryanna Maycherski. Together in Chicago, they had my great-grandfather Leon (Leo) Bonk. Leo’s wife, my great-grandmother Mary Smuczynski, was also the first in her family to be born in the United States. Her parents, my great-great-grandparents Nicholas Smuczynski and Joanna Gomski, were born in Poland and moved to Chicago as well. Mary and Leo together in Chicago had my grandfather Chester Thomas Bonk in Chicago in 1914. Chester Bonk, my grandfather, had quite the interesting life and also was a huge influence on the way my family is today. Everyone who knew my grandpa loved him and his outrageous humor. After attending college, he joined the Walgreens Corporation and worked for them at the Chicago World's Fair of 1933. Throughout his life, he worked for Walgreens for over 50 years and is a founding member of the Walgreen Alumni Association and was a member of the Board of the Alumni Association until a year before his death. Within all of his hard work with the Walgreens Corporation, he served time in World War II from 1942 to 1946. After a short time in the army, he became a 2nd Lieutenant, followed closely by 1st Lieutenant. After recovering from injuries in a hospital in France, he became a Captain in 1945. After being discharged from the army, he earned a Master’s Degree in Business from the University of Chicago. Fast-forwarding to 1998, my grandfather, Chester ‘Chet’ Bonk passed away on Valentine’s Day of that year. LeonMary.jpg|Leon and Mary Bonk, my great-grandparents 1905 GGGram:Gramp3sis.jpg|George and Apolonia Zeleznick with my Grandma Bonk and two of her sisters ChetBarracks.jpg|Grandpa Chester Bonk at his barracks WWII ChetBelgium.jpg|Grandpa Bonk (2nd from left) in Belgium WWII My mom’s mother also comes from a long line of people from Poland. Her family was specifically from the part of Poland ruled by Austria. My grandmother’s name was Marie Dorthea Zeleznik, which changed to Bonk after marrying Chester. She was born November 25, 1920. Like my Grandpa Bonk, my grandmother was also known for her kind, full heart and her good spirit. Her parents, my great-grandparents, Paraska “Polly” Apolonia Makaryk and George Albert Wojciech Zeleznik were the first in the family to move to the United States from Austria. Polly came to the U.S. in 1913 at the age of 18. Her and George both moved to different places in Michigan and eventually met and got married in Harvey, Illinois. I know the two of them as DziaDzia and Busia, the Polish names for grandparents, from the many stories that I have heard. My great-grandfathers parents were Lawrence Wawrzyniec Zeleznik and Katie Krol. Both were from Austria/Poland. My great-grandmother’s parents were Michael Makaryk and Mary Berin and were also both from Austria. My grandmother Marie passed away on February 28, 2001 after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s disease. Together, Marie and Chet had five children including my mother who was the youngest. The others are Marilyn, Martha, Paul, and Mark. My Uncle Mark tragically passed away from Malignant Melanoma at the age of 52 about three years ago. The rest of my aunts and uncles on the Bonk side live relatively close and since we are such a close-knit family, we get together very often. The Martin Side I am just as close with my father’s side of the family as I am with my mother’s side. Like with the Bonks, it is always a wild time when the Martin side of the family gets together. Most of what I know about my dad’s side of the family comes from my grandmother because my dad’s father, my grandfather Jack Rogers Martin, passed away around the age of 50 years old from a heart attack. I never got to meet my Grandpa Jack because I was not yet born when he passed away. Before he passed away, my grandparents were divorced and because of this disconnection, not much is known about Jack Martin’s family line. On the other hand, I did get to enjoy 21 wonderful years with my grandma, Kathleen Steel Martin, my dad’s mother. She passed away this year on October 2nd of Pulmonary Fibrosis. Like my mother’s parents, whom my Grandma Martin was extremely close with before their passing, she was an amazing woman who never had a bad word to say about anyone, unless it was one of the crazy defendants on Judge Judy! GGram:GrampSteel.jpg|Great-grandparents Kathleen and Amos Steel Gram:Gramp.jpg|My grandma and grandpa, Kathleen Martin and Jack Martin GramMart.jpg|My Grandma Martin Grammartttt.jpg|More recent of my grandma and me Kathleen’s dad, my great-grandfather Amos John Steel, was born in 1894 in South Melbourne, Australia. His parents were Thomas Henry Steel and Elizabeth Rennie. It is believed that they may have been from somewhere in the UK. My grandma’s mother, my great-grandmother Kathleen Grant, was born in 1898 in Glasgow, Scotland. Her parents were Thomas Grant and Annie MacDonald. My great-grandparents Amos Steel and Kathleen Grant were married in London and eventually moved to the United States. My grandmother was born in Reading, Pennsylvania on September 13, 1927. From Pennsylvania, my grandmother eventually moved to Fort Worth, Texas and then to Chicago, Illinois. Together, Jack and Kathleen had four children. Like my mother, my dad was the youngest out of his sisters Diane and Jackie (Jacqueline) and his brother Bill (William). Some Family Traditions Most of the holiday traditions in my family come from a mix of my Polish heritage and my Catholic upbringing. A few examples of this come about when my family celebrates a semi-traditional Polish Christmas Eve. One element that goes into the Polish Christmas Eve is the spreading of a thin layer of hay under the white tablecloth in memory of the Godchild in the manger. We participated in this part of the tradition until this year when my aunt happened to misplace the hay that we have always used! Another part of Polish Christmas Eve is the breaking of the Christmas wafer called Oplatek. This wafer, also known as the bread of love, is passed around the table and small pieces are broken off by each person in exchange for good wishes for health, wealth, and happiness for the New Year. Oplatek is similar to the bread received during communion in the Catholic Church. It is stamped with pictures of Jesus, Mary, and holy angels. A tradition that the Bonk side of the family has added to our Polish Christmas Eve is singing carols around the piano at the end of the night, which can get pretty “theatrical” to say the least! Easter is another holiday for my family that involves a lot of tradition, whether it is Polish, Catholic, or just from our family. On Easter Saturday, we attend a blessing of the baskets at church where the priest recites prayers for everything included in the baskets followed by a blessing with holy water. The traditional Polish basket includes eggs, butter, horseradish, sausage, salt, water, cheese, bread, and candles. Growing up, my Grandma Bonk would not go into the house after basket blessing until walking around the entire house with her blessed basket in order to “ward off snakes.” I never really understood that. Finally, another example of an Easter tradition is that my mother, Maria, gives each niece, my sister, and me a Pisanki. Pisanki is an elaborately decorated egg that people exchange as a sign of good wishes. Coloring eggs in general is something practiced by Polish people across the world, including my family, and these eggs are exchanged at Easter as good wishes for friends and family. Reflections I believe that I am very fortunate to have grown up with the family that I have. I have such an incredible support system and they have always been extremely accepting individuals, and I mean each and every one of them including my extended family. I cannot speak for the deceased family members that I had never met, but I can for the ones I do know and did know once. Growing up, I had best friends who were Caucasian, like I am, Asian American, African American, Hispanic American, and of many other backgrounds. My parents and other family members have never felt the need to bring up any issues of race because in their minds, it simply was not an issue. My parents were never one to discriminate based on race, but I definitely did know some other children whose parents did not allow them to associate with these same kids I was friends with. I remember feeling confused as to why it was even an issue that they looked different at all. I am extremely grateful that I was brought up in a household that accepted diversity. This class has also brought up the question of whether or not things would be different in my family had I been born a boy. I am confident in saying that I do not think that I would have been given any different treatment than the love and support that my parents and family have given me continuously throughout the past 21 years of my life. Granted, I was kind of the son that my father never had, and still am at times, but when it comes to aspects outside of participating in sports and relating to my dad in any way, I believe that I would have been given the same opportunities and not given any more discipline nor special treatment if I was a boy. All in all, my family is an enormous part of my life and the reason that I am who I am today. It is very important to me that I always keep my close relationships with both my immediate family and extended family and continue to instill good morals and values in my children when the time comes. Category:Students